Saavedro of Stratholme
Saavedro the Unbreakable, former Priest of Stratholme, Knight of the Silver Hand (born in the year 572 in Corin's Crossing, Lordaeron) is the primary World of Warcraft character played by Joshua Underwood. Currently, Saavedro is on the Medivh (US) "normal" (player-versus-environment, or PvE) server, but Underwood has intended to move him to the Khadgar (US) PvE server in order to join his stepfather. Saavedro is named after the antagonist of Myst III: Exile, portrayed by Brad Dourif (ironically, Dourif also portrays Underwood's primary Star Trek character, Kiran Joshmaul). Origins Born in the town of Corin's Crossing, southeast of Stratholme, Saavedro was the only child of the town magistrate and his wife. Living with his parents for much of his childhood, Saavedro - or Saav to his friends - grew tired of living within the magistrate's estate; for all of his good intentions, his father was the typical ineffectual politician. When he reached his Age of Ascension in 585, at age 13, Saavedro encountered a messenger from the King of Lordaeron, headed for Stratholme, and accompanied the messenger to the High Priest Sekhesmet of Stratholme. The young man took his oath as a priest in the service of the Kingdom of Lordaeron, and trained for much of his life under the venerable High Priest. In 594, word reached Stratholme of the fall of Lordaeron's sister kingdom of Azeroth, at the hands of the orcish Horde. Not long after that news reached Lordaeron, the refugees from Stormwind - led by Sir Anduin Lothar of the Brotherhood of the Horse and Archbishop Alonsus Faol, Abbot of the destroyed Abbey of Northshire - arrived in the court of King Terenas II of the House of Menethil, the reigning monarch of Lordaeron. Saavedro, as an emissary of the Conclave of the Priesthood in Stratholme, was present as Lothar informed the King of the opening of the Dark Portal, the atrocities committed by the orcs and their allies, the sorcerer Medivh's involvement in bringing the greenskinned invaders into the world of Azeroth, and the assassination of King Llane. Saavedro was particularly disturbed by the word of the destruction of the holy order of the Clerics of Northshire, but aided the aged Archbishop and his apprentice, Uther the Lightbringer, in the creation of the Order of the Silver Hand - the paladins. The Fall of Stratholme After the Alliance expedition into Draenor sealed the Dark Portal, Saavedro's mentor, High Priest Sekhesmet, was sent to the capital as a member of the high council of Lordaeron's priesthood. Now in his early thirties and a full-fledged priest of Lordaeron, Saavedro focused on his duties as a priest to the city of Stratholme. Then, in 604, he received orders from the high council informing him that he was being sent to the court of King Varian Wrynn, the new King of Stormwind. He lived in a small house in the Canal District, not far from the Cathedral of Light. He lived in Stormwind for ten years, until he received dire news from an Alliance courier from Grand Marshal Garithos, the leader of the Alliance remnant in Lordaeron, that had managed to reach the dwarven capital of Ironforge. Less than a year earlier, the human Kingdom of Lordaeron and the elven Kingdom of Quel'Thalas had been destroyed by a plague of undeath created by the Burning Legion and spread by an undead juggernaught known as the Scourge. The noble King Terenas and the leader of the Silver Hand, Lord Uther, had been brutally murdered by Prince Arthas, now a death knight in the Scourge's service. Lordaeron had crumbled into ruin, and Stratholme was left to burn - a fire that has lasted for many years after the end of the "Third War", as the battle with the Scourge and the Burning Legion was called. From his home in Goldshire, Saavedro refused to believe what he was hearing, but it soon became inevitable to him - his homeland had fallen into ruin, the ghosts of hundreds of thousands roaming the blighted landscape. The last piece of news he had heard chilled his soul - his mentor, Sekhesmet, had succumbed to the plague - for all of his strength in the Light, the darkness had claimed him regardless. At first, Saavedro refused to believe that the kingdom, Stratholme particularly, had fallen to something as simple as a disease. But the leader of the Church of Light, Archbishop Benedictus, warned him not to underestimate the powers of the Burning Legion. Realizing that he had a greater part to play, Saavedro waited until four years after the war before he removed the robes of the priesthood and took up sword and shield as a paladin. Swearing to defend the helpless and fight both the Scourge and the Horde, Saavedro was inducted into the Order of the Silver Hand at Northshire Abbey, in 618. He was forty-six years old. Paladin of the Silver Hand Note: This is from the perspective of Underwood playing Saavedro in World of Warcraft. The situations described herein are not unique to this character. In his beginnings as a paladin, Saavedro - like many other paladins, priests, warriors and other adventurers - fought against the secretive Defias Brotherhood, which was beginning to gain a foothold within the Kingdom of Stormwind. Starting first in Elwynn Forest, Saavedro began to augment his formidable powers of the Light with his skill in combat. At the time he became a paladin, many guilds had risen, organizations devoted to the Alliance and to the Horde. Early in his career as a paladin, Saavedro was inducted into the Order of the Midnight Runners as a common soldier, led at the time by the dwarf hunter Talluwin. Not long afterwards he travelled to Sentinel Hill in Westfall, to help continue the war against the Defias. It was in Sentinel Hill that he met the night elf rogue Ripclaw, to whom Saavedro would become a chief lieutenant in later years. With Ripclaw's aid, he put an end to the Defias Brotherhood's campaign in Westfall by killing its leader, Edwin VanCleef. It was while he was in the Midnight Runners that he met a renegade Defias rogue named Nyssha, and took her under his wing. He realized that her skills as an assassin and spy, while repulsive to him, would be useful to his cause, and he could use what influence he had to prevent her from being executed as a traitor. After killing VanCleef, Saavedro and Nyssha travelled to the Stockades in Stormwind, investigating rumors that the nobility had delayed the executions of Defias members being held there - and now they had overrun the Stockades. After putting down the insurrection, Saavedro left Nyssha in Stormwind and travelled, via the newly completed Deeprun Tram, to Ironforge. Travelling Overseas Saavedro arrived in Ironforge shortly after clearing out the Stockades, and immediately travelled to the swampy Wetlands that separated the dwarven empire of Khaz Modan from what remained of the Kingdom of Lordaeron. Arriving in Menethil Harbor, the major port of call that connected the ports of Theramore and Auberdine, Saavedro took the boat that would take him to Auberdine, in the Darkshore region of northern Kalimdor. Ripclaw met him there, and together they travelled to Blackfathom Deeps, in the northern part of Ashenvale Forest. Upon returning to the Eastern Kingdoms, far stronger than he had been before, Saavedro, Ripclaw and several other Runners ventured into the irradiated gnomish capital of Gnomeregan at the behest of the exiled High Tinker Gelbin Mekkatorque, who held court in Ironforge near the Deeprun Tram. Mekkatorque had implored Saavedro and his allies to avenge the fall of Gnomeregan by killing the one responsible for it - his former chief advisor, Mekgineer Sicco Thermaplugg. The fighting was long and arduous, but finally Saavedro, Ripclaw and their allies reached the Tinker's Court, where he aided the warrior who had accompanied them in striking down the treacherous Thermaplugg. After returning from Gnomeregan, the paladin joined in a continuing war he fights today - the war against the zealots of the Scarlet Crusade, and the undead monsters of the Scourge. Fighting Battles Against Evil With Ripclaw now leader of the Midnight Runners, Saavedro and Nyssha had been promoted to the rank of warlord in the Order, now among the new leader's chief lieutenants. But their battles had just begun. Saavedro and Ripclaw, accompanied by a gnome warlock who called himself Satanic, headed north from Hillsbrad into the plagued landscape now occupied by the undead Forsaken. For the first time in nearly twenty years, Saavedro entered the forests of Tirisfal Glades...and he did not like what he saw. The land was barely livable to humans, and the skies turned a sickly green. Distressed by the physical changes to Tirisfal, Saavedro nonetheless remained devoted to his mission - to enter the Scarlet Monastery. Formerly a cathedral to the Light maintained by the high council of the Lordaeron priesthood, in the nearby capital city - now the undead Undercity - the Monastery had become a place of evil, supposedly justified by their devotion to the Light. With Ripclaw and Satanic, along with a priest and a warrior, Saavedro entered the Scarlet Monastery and met the leaders of the Scarlet Crusade's war in Tirisfal in combat. Standing at the side of the warrior, Saavedro foguht through hordes of crazed zealots in the Monastery's library and defeated Houndmaster Loksey and Arcanist Doan, then cleared out the armory and taking the mail-armor shoulder of the Scarlet Champion, Herod, and finally entered the center of the Monastery's leadership, the Cathedral itself. Saavedro was repulsed by the crazed zealotry of the Scarlet Crusaders, his anger rising until it reached the boiling point in the Crusaders' Chapel itself. Fueled by rage, Saavedro and his compatriots cleared the Monastery of all who lived - and even one who wasn't alive to begin with, the former High Inquisitor Fairbanks - before confronting the son of the Ashbringer, Scarlet Commander Mograine, and his deluded mistress, High Inquisitor Whitemane. The battle was feverish, but in the end, the Midnight Runners proved victorious, and Saavedro left the depths of the Monastery with Mograine's shield strapped to his arm. After leaving Tirisfal, Saavedro travelled to Stranglethorn Vale and began questing there. It was shortly after his triumph in the Monastery, having trained for months, that he reached the level to begin wearing heavier plate armor and wielding far greater weapons. After speaking to his paladin mentor, Duthorian Rall, in Stormwind's Cathedral, Saavedro gained the paladin's warhorse, which he named Sekhesmet after his fallen mentor. His fight against the Scourge, and the Scarlet Crusade, was far from over. After fighting through the Scourge-infested Razorfen Downs in the Barrens, and the sunken Temple of Atal'Hakkar in the Swamp of Sorrows, Saavedro finally returned to his homeland - now transformed into the toxic Plaguelands. Reaching Stratholme Saavedro entered the Western Plaguelands from the mountains of Alterac, and was appalled at what he saw. The sky and the trees were even more sickly looking than in Tirisfal, and thousands of skeletons, ghouls and specters wandered the landscape - though having heard that this was where the plague began, Saavedro was surprised to see it was relatively intact, its appearance aside. It was here that Saavedro joined the Argent Dawn, an organization made up of all races and creeds dedicated to combatting the Scourge - and the Scarlet Crusade. Saavedro saw it as an opportunity to accelerate his battle against both evils. After fighting in the Western Plaguelands for months, Saavedro feared the worst as he prepared to brave the horrors of the Eastern Plaguelands. As he feared, it was far worse than Tirisfal or the Western Plaguelands. The town of Darrowshire was obliterated, his birthplace of Corin's Crossing infested by ghouls, specters and abominations, and the various other small towns left with nothing more than ghosts and memories. Steeling himself, Saavedro joined with a raiding party into the ruins of Stratholme - still left burning for four years, its districts split between the zealots of the Scarlet Crusade and the ravenous Scourge. The raiding party ventured into the Scourge-controlled sections of Stratholme, entering through the Eastwall Gate service entrance into the Elder's Square district. Battling their way to the slaughterhouse in the northern district known as Slaughter Square, the raiding party disabled the Ash'ari crystals that guarded the way, battled the abominations and their leader, Ramstein the Gorger, and waves of skeletons before finally entering the slaughterhouse. There, Saavedro battled an undead monster that would prove to be one of his more vexing foes - the death knight Baron Rivendare. The fighting was brutal, but in the end, the raiders proved victorious over the evil Baron. Confronting an Emperor Though his success in Stratholme was a noteworthy achievement, Saavedro was haunted by the depths in which his beloved city had sunk. Finally deciding to find higher-stakes fighters, Saavedro left the Order of the Midnight Runners, leaving his Defias protégé, Nyssha, as his emissary. After months of fruitless searching, Saavedro joined a man called Eightbraeker, a paladin who had risen in the ranks of Stormwind's army, and his order of holy warriors known as Sanctus Preliator. Having fought alongside Eightbraeker - who would later become the Alliance's Grand Marshal for a period - many times in the battlefields of Alterac Valley, Saavedro grew to respect his new leader as much as he had respected Ripclaw. Unfortunately for him, that was about all he did respect. Early in his service to Eightbraeker, as he began to reach the height of his power as a paladin, Saavedro was called on by King Magni Bronzebeard of Ironforge to rescue his daughter Moira from the evil Emperor of Blackrock, Dagran Thaurissan - slave of Ragnaros the Firelord, an elemental banished into the Molten Core of Blackrock Mountain generations earlier. Accompanied by several Preliators, Saavedro ventured deep into the volcanic depths of Blackrock Mountain, and eventually arrived in the Emperor's throne room. Along the way, he encountered a Dark Iron dwarf named Korogh Madeyes, who proved to be less hostile than his fellow Dark Irons. Somehow managing to break free of Ragnaros' slavery, Korogh offered his services to Saavedro, and led the paladin and his party straight into the Emperor's throne room. With the fate of the Kingdom of Ironforge in the balance, the Preliators cleared out the throne room and battled the Emperor himself. Finally, the killing blow was struck, and the heiress to Ironforge safely returned to her father. The Scourge Invasion, and Moving Ahead After leaving Sanctus Preliator, Saavedro joined the Order of the Cutting Edge, led at the time by the human priest Mairek. Fighting many battles with them - most notably when, with both he and his enemy weakened and his party incapacitated, he slew the dragon General Drakkisath in single combat in the upper portions of Blackrock Spire - Saavedro gained strength, wisdom and honor, and was well respected by his peers. Along with his comrades, Saavedro battled the Horde champion Nathanos Blightcaller in Eastern Plaguelands, and the Forsaken Alexi Barov, trying to gain control of what remained of his family's holdings. Furthermore, he had become revered with the Stormpike Guard fighting in Alterac Valley, and with the Argent Dawn battling the Scourge. Aided by the paladin lord Kothgar, Saavedro gained the symbol of the highest-ranked paladin, the gold-armored charger, which he named Terenas after the murdered King of Lordaeron. Three months into his service with the Cutting Edge, a great war began. The lich Kel'Thuzad, overlord of the Scourge-controlled Plaguelands, had returned six years after Arthas had joined what remained of his soul with the ethereal Lich King that controlled the Scourge. From his black citadel of Naxxramas, floating in the skies above Stratholme, Kel'Thuzad directed an invasion of the world of Azeroth. Saavedro travelled the world along with thousands of others to combat the undead invasions. The battles lasted a mere two to three weeks, but by its end the Scourge forces were badly depleted. Saavedro left the battlefields of the Scourge invasion bearing the tabard of the Argent Dawn, an item he long coveted, and with plate-mail armor enchanted to battle undead. At the same time, Saavedro began fighting other deadly forces in addition to the Scourge. While in Sanctus Preliator, Saavedro had entered the ruined city of Zul'Gurub, the former capital of the Gurubashi Empire, and gained many powerful relics - including the gigantic hammer wielded by the bat-like High Priestess Jeklik. He also was present at the opening of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj, in which Lord Kalahad, of the order known as Fury, rang the Scarab Gong that began a battle in the deserts of Silithus. Saavedro has also done combat with the insectoid Qiraji, but has not been able to defeat one of the major leaders, General Rajaxx. While in Blackrock Depths, Korogh Madeyes had informed him that Duke Hydraxis, a powerful water elemental on an island in the Bay of Storms in Azshara, was trying to find warriors to battle the minions of Ragnaros in the Molten Core. Saavedro took up the challenge and fought many times in Molten Core, even after he left the Order of the Cutting Edge - but he has never managed to reach the fiery center of the Core where Ragnaros resides...yet. A Mentor Reborn? While preparing to make another trip to Zul'Gurub, Saavedro received a notice from his Defias spy, Nyssha, indicating that the paladin's former mentor, High Priest Sekhesmet, had risen from the dead as one of the Forsaken. Not believing this at first, an encounter with Sekhesmet while aiding a group near the Scarlet Monastery confirmed it - it was indeed his former mentor, weakened by six years of death, but otherwise the same powerful force that Saavedro had revered in his youth - and, Sekhesmet vowed, the paladin would soon begin to fear. Currently Saavedro, currently residing in Ironforge, now prepares to join a somewhat insane dwarven paladin named Luna DeMoona, whom he met in Stormwind, in her rise through the ranks of the paladin order. The Dark Iron dwarf Korogh Madeyes, along with Nyssha and a night elf druid named Arrhae Swifteye, have rejoined the Order of the Midnight Runners in his place. Combatting the Horde Saavedro's battles against the Scourge, the Scarlet Crusade and other organizations have not made him forget that the Alliance's first, and greatest, enemy is the orcish Horde. Over the span of a year, Saavedro has attained the rank of Master Sergeant in the Alliance army. He aspires to be Grand Marshal someday, but knows that the honor of the Alliance is greater than personal glory. Category:RPGCategory:Warcraft